The boy sitting opposite him was called Tigo, and he wore a green
silk jacket with an orange stripe on each sleeve. The jacket told
Danny that Tigo was his enemy. The jacket shrieked, "Enemy, enemy!"

"This is a good piece," Tigo said, indicating the gun on the table."
This runs you close to forty-five bucks, you try to buy it in a
store. That's a lot of money."

The gun on the table was a Smith & Wesson .38 Police Special.

It rested exactly in the center of the table, its sawed-off,
two-inch barrel abruptly terminating the otherwise lethal grace of
the weapon. There was a checked walnut stock on the gun, and the gun
was finished in a flat blue. Alongside the gun were three .38
Special cartridges.

Danny looked at the gun disinterestedly. He was nervous and
apprehensive, but he kept tight control of his face. He could not
show Tigo what he was feeling. Tigo was the enemy, and so he
presented a mask to the enemy, cocking one eyebrow and saying, "I
seen pieces before. There's nothing special about this one." "Except
what we got to do with it," Tigo said. Tigo was studying him with
large brown eyes. The eyes were moist-looking. He was not a
bad-looking kid, Tigo, with thick black hair and maybe nose that was
too long, but his mouth and chin were good. You could usually tell a
cat by his mouth and his chin. Tigo would not turkey out of this
particular rumble. Of that, Danny was sure. "Why don't we start?"
Danny asked. He wet his lips and looked across at Tigo.

"This is what the club said. This is how the club said we should
settle it. Without a big street diddlebop, you dig? But I want you
to know I don't know you from a hole in the wall-except you wear a
blue and gold jacket."

"And you wear a green and orange one," Danny said," and that's
enough for me."

"Sure, but what I was trying to say..."

"We going to sit and talk all night, or we going to get this thing
rolling?" Danny asked.

"What I'm tryin to say," Tigo went on, "is that I just happened to
be picked for this, you know? Like to settle this thing that's
between the two clubs I mean, you got to admit your boys shouldn't
have come in our territory last night."

"I got to admit nothing," Danny said flatly.

"Well, anyway, they shot at the candy store. That wasn't right.
There's supposed to be a truce on."

"Okay, okay," Danny said.

"So like... like this is the way we agreed to settle it. I mean, one
of us and... and one of you. Fair and square. Without any street
boppin', and without any law trouble."

"Let's get on with it," Danny said.

"I'm trying to say, I never even seen you on the street before this.
So this ain't nothin' personal with me. Whichever way it turns out,
like..."

"I never seen you neither," Danny said.

Tigo stared at him for a long time. "That's cause you're new around
here. Where you from originally?"

"My people come down from the Bronx."

"You got a big family?"

"A sister and two brothers, that's all."

"Yeah, I only got a sister." Tigo shrugged. "Well." He sighed. "So."
He sighed again. "Let's make it, huh?"

"I'm waitin'," Danny said.

Tigo picked up the gun, and then he took one of the cartridges from
the table top. He broke open the gun, slid the cartridge into the
cylinder, and then snapped the gun shut and twirled the cylinder.
"Round and round she goes," he said, "and where she stops, nobody
knows. There's six chambers in the cylinder and only one cartridge.
That makes the odds five-to-one that the cartridge'll be in firing
position when the cylinder stops whirling. You dig?"

"I dig."

"I'll go first," Tigo said.

Danny looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"You want to go first?"

"I don't know."

"I'm giving you a break." Tigo grinned. "I may blow my head off
first time out."

"Why you giving me a break?" Danny asked.

Tigo shrugged. "What the hell's the difference?" He gave the
cylinder a fast twirl.

"The Russians invented this, huh?" Danny asked.

"Yeah."

"I always said they was crazy bastards."

"Yeah, I always..." Tigo stopped talking. The cylinder was stopped
now. He took a deep breath, put the barrel of the .38 to his temple,
and then squeezed the trigger.

The firing pin clicked on an empty chamber.

"Well, that was easy, wasn't it?" he asked. He shoved the gun across
the table. "Your turn, Danny."

Danny reached for the gun. It was cold in the basement room, but he
was sweating now. He pulled the gun toward him, then left it on the
table while he dried his palms on his trousers. He picked up the gun
then and stared at it.

"It's a nifty piece," Tigo said. "I like a good piece."

"Yeah, I do too," Danny said. "You can tell a good piece just by the
way it feels in your hand."

Tigo looked surprised. "I mentioned that to one of the guys
yesterday, and he thought I was nuts.

"Lots of guys don't know about pieces," Danny said, shrugging. "I
was thinking," Tigo, said, "when I get old enough, I'll join the
Army, you know? I'd like to work around pieces."

"Yeah, they're all the same," Tigo said smiling. "Your old lady born
here or the old country?"

"The old country," Danny said.

"Yeah, well you know they got these old-fashioned ideas."

"I better spin," Danny said.

"Yeah," Tigo agreed.

Danny slapped the cylinder with his left hand. The cylinder whirled,
whirled, and then stopped. Slowly, Danny put the gun to his head. He
wanted to close his eyes, but he didn't dare. Tigo, the enemy, was
watching him. He returned Tigo's stare, and then he squeezed the
trigger.

His heart skipped a beat, and then over the roar of his blood he
heard the empty click. Hastily, he put the gun down on the table.

"Makes you sweat, don't it?" Tigo said.

Danny nodded, saying nothing. He watched Tigo. Tigo was looking at
the gun.

"Me now, huh?" Tigo said. He took a deep breath, then picked up the
.38. He twirled the cylinder, waited for it to stop, and then put
the gun to his head.

"Bang!" Tigo said, and then he squeezed the trigger. Again the
firing pin clicked on an empty chamber. Tigo let out his breath and
put the gun down.

"I thought I was dead that time," he said.

"I could hear the harps," Danny said.

"This is a good way to lose weight, you know that?" Tigo laughed
nervously, and then his laugh became honest when he saw Danny was
laughing with him. "Ain't it the truth?" You could lose ten pounds
this way."

"My old lady's like a house," Danny said laughing. "She ought to try
this kind of a diet." He laughed at his own humor, pleased when Tigo
joined him.

"That's the trouble," Tigo said. "You see a nice deb in the street,
you think it's crazy, you know? Then they get to be our people's
age, and they turn to fat." He shook his head.

"She's nice, ain't she?" Tigo asked. He leaned forward, as if
Danny's answer was of great importance to him.

"Yeah she's nice," Danny said.

"Yeah. Hey maybe sometime we could..." Tigo cut himself short. He
looked down at the gun, and his sudden enthusiasm seemed to ebb
completely. "It's you turn," he said.

"Here goes nothing," Danny said. He twirled the cylinder, sucked in
his breath, and then fired.

The emptily click was loud in the stillness of the room.

"Man!" Danny said.

"We're pretty lucky, you know?" Tigo said.

"So far."

"We better lower the odds. The boys won't like it if we..." He
stopped himself again, and then reached for one of the cartridges on
the table. He broke open the gun again, slipped in the second
cartridge into the cylinder. "Now we got two cartridges in here," he
said. "Two cartridges, six chambers. That's four-to-two. Divide it,
and you get two-to-two." He paused. "You game?"

"That's... that's what we're here for, ain't it?"

"Sure."

"Okay then."

"Gone," Tigo said, nodding his head. "You got courage, Danny."

"You're the one needs the courage," Danny said gently. "It's your
spin."

"Tigo lifted the gun. Idly, he began spinning the cylinder.

"You live on the next block, don't you?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." Tigo kept slapping the cylinder. It spun with a gently
whirring sound.

"That's how come we never crossed paths, I guess. Also, I'm new on
the scene."

"Yeah, well you know, you get hooked up with one club, that's the
way it is."

"You like the guys on you club?" Danny asked, wondering why he was
asking such a stupid question, listening to the whirring of the
cylinder at the same time.

"They're okay." Tigo shrugged. "None of them really send me, but
that's the club on my block, so what're you gonna do, huh?" His hand
left the cylinder. It stopped spinning. He put the gun to his head.

"Wait!" Danny said.

Tigo looked puzzled. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to say... I mean..." Danny frowned. "I don't
dig too many of the guys on my club, either."

Tigo nodded. For a moment, their eyes locked. Then Tigo shrugged,
and fired.

The empty click filled the basement room.

"Phew," Tigo said.

"Man, you can say that again."

Tigo slid the gun across the table.

Danny hesitated an instant. He did not want to pick up the gun. He
felt sure that this time the firing pin would strike the percussion
cap of one of the cartridges. He was sure that this time he would
shoot himself.

"Sometimes I think I'm turkey," he said to Tigo, surprised that his
thoughts had found voice.

"I feel that way sometimes, too," Tigo said.

"I never told that to nobody," Danny said. "The guys on my club
would laugh at me, I ever told them that."

"Some things you got to keep to yourself. There ain't nobody you can
trust in this world."

"There should be somebody you can trust," Danny said. "Hell, you
can't tell nothing to your people. They don't understand." Tigo
laughed. "That's an old story. But that's the way things are.
What're you gonna do?"

"Yeah. Still, sometimes I think I'm turkey."

"Sure, sure," Tigo said. "It ain't only that, though. Like
sometimes... well, don't you wonder what you're doing stomping some
guy in the street? Like ... you know what I mean? Like ... who's the
guy to you? What you got to beat him up for? 'Cause he messed with
somebody else's girl?" Tigo shook his head. "It gets complicated
sometimes."

"Well, here goes." Danny said. He lifted the gun. "It's just ..." He
shook his head, and then twirled the cylinder. The cylinder spun,
and then stopped. He studied the gun, wondering if one of the
cartridges would roar from the barrel when he squeezed the trigger.

Then he fired.

Click.

"I didn't think you was going through with it," Tigo said.

"I didn't neither."

"You got heart, Danny," Tigo said. He looked at the gun. He picked
it up and broke it open.

"What you doing?" Danny asked.

"Another cartridge," Tigo said. "Six chambers, three cartridges.
That makes it even money. You game?"

Tigo looked across the table at Danny, his eyes wide. "Once," he
said. "I went with Juana."

"Is it ... is it any kicks?"

"Yeah. Yeah, its grand kicks. You mean you never been?"

"No," Danny said.

"Hey, you got to tryin, man," Tigo said excitedly. "You'll like it.
Hey, you try it."

"Yeah, I was thinking maybe this Sunday I'd ... " He did not
complete the sentence.

"My spin," Tigo said wearily. He twirled the cylinder. "Here goes a
good man," he said, and he put the revolver to his head and squeezed
the trigger.

Click.

Danny smiled nervously. "No rest for the weary," he said. "But Jesus
you've got the heart. I don't know if I can go through with it."

Sure, you can," Tigo assured him. "Listen, what's there to be afraid
of?" He slid the gun across the table.

"We keep this up all night?" Danny asked.

"They said ... you know ... "

"Well, it ain't so bad. I mean, hell, we didn't have this operation,
we wouldn'ta got a chance to talk, huh?" He grinned feebly.

"Yeah," Tigo said, his face splitting in a wide grin. "It ain't been
so bad, huh?"

"No, it's been ... well, you know, these guys on the club, who can
talk to them?"

He picked up the gun. "We could ..." Tigo started.

"What?"

"We could say ... well ... like we kept shootin' an' nothing
happened, so ..." Tigo shrugged. "What the hell! We can't do this
all night, can we?"

"I don't know."

"Let's make this the last spin. Listen, they don't like it, they can
take a flying leap, you know?"

"I don't think they'll like it. We're supposed to settle this for
the clubs."

"Screw the clubs!" Tigo said. "Can't we pick our own ..." The word
was hard coming. When it came, his eyes did not leave Danny's face.
"... friends?"

"Sure we can," Danny said vehemently. "Sure we can! Why not?"

"The last spin," Tigo said. "Come on, the last spin."

"Gone," Danny said. "Hey you know, I'm glad they got this idea. You
know that? I'm actually glad!" He twirled the cylinder. "Look, you
want to go on the lake this Sunday? I mean with your girl and mine?
We could get two boats. Or even one if you want." "Yeah, one boat,"
Tigo Said. "Hey, your girl'll like Juana, I mean it. She's a swell
chick."

The cylinder stopped. Danny put the gun to his head quickly.

"Here's to Sunday," he said. He grinned at Tigo, and Tigo grinned
back, and then Danny fired.

The explosion rocked the small basement room, ripping away half of
Danny's head, shattering his face. A small cry escaped Tigo's
throat, and a look of incredulous shock knifed his eyes. Then he put
his head on the table and began weeping.